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TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP

Posted on by Patrick Stephan

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

SONSIO GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA

ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN

TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP

JUNE 18, 2023

TEAM CHEVY DOUBLE PODIUM AT ROAD AMERICA

Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward Finish Second and Third Respectively

  • Josef Newgarden, No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, claimed his third podium of the season including two wins-Texas Motor Speedway and the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 with a runner-up finish in today’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America
  •  Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren INDYCAR Chevrolet, claimed his fourth podium of the season with a third-place finish in the 55-lap/220.77-mile race on 4.014-mile track
  • Today’s finishes are the 12th and 13th podiums of the season for a Chevrolet 2.2 liter V6 powered drivers in the NTT INDYCAR Series, and the 13th podium for a Chevy driver at Road America
  •  Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet, was credited with leading seven of the 55 laps
  • In six of the eight races run to-date in 2023, Chevrolet drivers have occupied two steps of the podium including three wins
  • Next on the schedule is the INDY 200 at MID-OHIO Sports Car Course June 30 – July 2, 2023

TEAM CHEVY FINISHING POSITIONS:

  • Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet                                      2nd
  • Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet                                             3rd
  • Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet                                       8th
  • Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet                                        10th
  • Rinus VeeKay, No, 21 Chevrolet                                          12th
  • Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet                                               13th
  • Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet                                      16th
  • Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20 Chevrolet                                   17th
  • Callum Illott, No. 77 Chevrolet                                             18th
  • Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet                                    19th
  • Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet                                        20th
  • Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet                                 21st

 WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:

TALK ABOUT YOUR DAY AND HOW YOU BATTLED

“I mean we definitely had a shot at the win today, but not at the end. I think (Alex) Palou was just better than us in that final stint. So, I think he did a great job, and he is very deserving.  In the middle of the race definitely felt like we had an opportunity, and I chose a lane on the restart when we had the off-cycle cars in front of us and I just chose the wrong lane. I chose the wrong lane with Palou, and I lost a couple of spots to Colton (Herta) and Pato (O’Ward) and that just set us up for the end of the race and playing catch up. I felt like if I had made a different choice there, then maybe we would have had an opportunity for the win. But I guess I am happy to be disappointed with second. This was a great recovery drive I think from our team.  You know we rolled off pretty bad and we were off the pace and not happy.  This team went to work and did a great job with the PPG car and Team Chevy.  So, I have to be pretty pleased with second, its just tough when you have an opportunity to win and you just don’t seal the deal.”

GIVEN HOW GOOD YOU HAVE BEEN HERE IN THE PAST, WERE YOU SURPRISED WITH HOW DIFFERENT THINGS ARE WITH THE NEW PAVEMENT?

 “Yes and no.  We knew it was going to be drastically different than it was in the past and I am a big fan of old pavement tracks.  I think the team here has done a tremendous job and the track is in great shape and its super smooth. I think as a team we need to be better on smooth surfaces. It seems like a weakness of ours right now.  We were certainly better on the old surface, we just have to figure out what is the ideal package here going forward.  But we will work on it, I believe in this team, and we will figure it out.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO, 3 SONSIO TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:

ON YOUR RACE:

“Pretty decent day for the Sonsio Chevy. I finished eighth. It could have been a lot worse, so we made the best of what we had to work with. So we will take that and move on to Mid-Ohio where we won last year.”

CHALLENGES IN TODAY’S RACE ON WORKING YOUR WAY TO THE FRONT:

“I just think it’s very easy to use a lot of push to pass and making sure that you have some available to you. But ultimately it was just like a tire race. Like it was just, be on the right tire at the right time.

“People that were on the reds when there’s heap of those yellows, you know, guys like Dixon and that they just benefit huge. Ultimately, I think we’re probably like top-six today. I think is a really good bounce back, you know. We really found something in the warm-up today and yeah, I think balance-wise the car felt really nice, so I’m happy with that.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET:

LET’S GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE RACE AND EVERYTHING YOU HAD GOING ON AND HOW YOU MADE YOUR WAY BACK TO THE PODIUM

 “It was a hard-fought race for us, and we were a bit of a ping pong in the beginning, getting hit in turn one and hit in turn two. We got shuffled back and had to give up a couple of positions and then I think we were sitting ninth or something and we just fought our way forward. There was no other thing to do and yeah, I am happy with the result. It was a solid job by the team in the pits and considering where we have ended the last couple of races, this was a really good job.”

YOU HAD TO BE BROUGHT BACK, YOU RAN OUT OF FUEL ON THE COOL DOWN LAP, IS THAT RIGHT?

 “Yeah, I might have made it, but I might have not. It was going to be more of a pain to run out of fuel over there by the kink, so I just stopped in turn five.”

NOW THAT MAYBE YOU HAVE GOTTEN SOME MOMENTUM BACK, WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR THE PROGRAM?

 “We have been fighting in the top three every single weekend and there hasn’t been one where we haven’t. So, I don’t see that changing and I think we are still going to be in the fight.  Obviously, this isn’t ideal for all of us, including ourselves in the championship, but Alex and the Ganassi guys did a fantastic job today. We need to be better.”

THOUGHTS ON THE REPAVE

 “I am a big fan of this repave. It’s been a joy to drive this track.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 6 ONSEMI ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET:

ON HIS RACE:

”It was an eventful race. There were a lot of ups and downs. We got punted off by Rinus Veekay, which was kind of an unnecessary move on his side early in the race. But we did a good job at getting back and we were actually running P7 there before the last pitstop. Then, we have to check exactly what it was, but we had something wrong with the fuel cell. It seems like we didn’t get all the fuel, and we didn’t get full-tank basically. So, we went into panic mode on the last stint to save a ridiculous amount of fuel, and we just felt like a rock through the field. It was unfortunate, but it was actually a pretty damn good race, so we’ll bring that with us and see what went wrong there.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET:

WHAT WERE YOU GUYS BATTLING TODAY THAT LED YOU TO SLIP THERE AT THE END?

“I don’t know, I honestly don’t know. I think the balance was pretty good and I think that….I don’t know. I feel like it’s something to do with a straight-line thing, but I haven’t been able to look at data yet. We had to use a lot of overtake to just keep position, and then at the end it was like other cars had 50 seconds more than us. With the straights here, that is really where we lost most of the spots in the final stint. The car was good so I don’t really have an answer. All through the weekend the Arrow McLaren team did an amazing job, Team Chevy has been fantastic, and I think from the test here we carried a lot of potential into the weekend, but this is the first Sunday where we have really struggled. We will look into it, and it’s not the end of the world, but certainly we are going to have to find an answer for that guy that keeps winning.”

DOES IT MAKE THIS ONE A BIT HARDER TO SWALLOW GIVEN THE OPTOMISM AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND?

 “Like I said, the balance was good, and I felt like we were good compared to other cars, we just were getting overtaken a lot. So, I don’t know if it was our trim level, I don’t know if it was gearing, I don’t know if they were just better in those corners than me.  Like I said, we will look into it and better understand it.  All-in-all we came into this weekend focusing on single lap pace and we determined that we have that sorted out.  We just now have to blend Saturdays and Sundays together.”

RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO. 20 BITNILE.COM ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET:

 “All in all, I feel it was a pretty positive day in that we have a direction for the future. We did have some setbacks today, we had to use a set of Firestone primaries that were just off the whole way through. Unfortunately, we had to pit for tires and here at Road America, you need to be pitting for fuel on an empty tank. That set our race on a different path and from there, we had to save a lot of fuel. We could only do what we could do. Moving up 10 spots today was a good start and there were a lot of positives behind the scenes.”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 DIRECT SUPPLY ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET:

 “Pretty happy! It was a roller coaster race. I got a penalty leaving the pit box, but I had no time to stop or I would have held the other guy up even more. I just stayed flat and hoped for the best. It was a pretty harsh penalty, going all the way to the back. From then on though, we maximized the day. I was P23 and made it all the way back to P12. Quite happy, the car felt good. I could really attack on the restarts and that’s how I moved my way forward. It was a pleasure to drive the Direct Supply car! If we had not had the penalty, we could have had a Top 10 but we maximized what we had, so I am happy. It was a fun race on my favorite track! This is the first time in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES I have had fun race at Road America. It was a pretty good job by Ryan (Hunter-Reay) as well in his first race back! Good day for the team and on to the middle of Ohio!”

 CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET:

“Tough weekend. I haven’t really had the pace all week. But got some good results, had good pit stops and made up a few positions. We got shuffled back a little bit, but it’s a learning weekend with a new pavement and new track. We just quite weren’t, quite on top of it. So after reviewing a little bit, especially for Laguna Seca, it’s probably going to be a very similar principle. At least we’ve got some good points. We can move on to Mid-Ohio which is a bit more familiar for us.”

AGUSTIN CANAPINO, NO. 78 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET:

“To finish 18th was a good for me. Not the beginning, I struggled a lot with the red tires. But after that with the blacks, I’m back in the race. We’re trying hard, and the guys are working hard, and we finished in a good position, taking some points. Just behind of my teammate. I’m happy with my performance. I’m learning a lot race by race. I improving and we want more of course, but it was a good result like good points. I was to the best week of the race. Well, now we will focus on Mid-Ohio.”

2023 CHEVROLET BY THE NUMBERS:

  • 190: NTT INDYCAR SERIES races as V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR. 
  • 109: Wins in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012. 
  • 121: Earned poles since 2012. 
  • 7: Manufacturer Championships since 2012. 
  • 7: Driver/entrant champions since 2012. 
  • 12: Indianapolis 500 victories by Chevrolet at Indianapolis Motor Speedway historically
  • 5: Indianapolis 500 wins by Chevrolet since 2012 in the V6 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era.

Josef Newgarden

Pato O’Ward

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by podium finishers Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward. Josef with his third podium of the season as he remains third in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES points standing. Also joining us Pato O’Ward from Arrow McLaren, fifth in the points standings as well.

Josef, lead us off a little bit. What did you think about this afternoon?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, it was a pretty good day. Yeah, it was an okay day. Disappointing for the way it finished for us just because there was a great opportunity in the middle to win this race.

I think at the end Alex had the field covered. He was very good on that final stint. I don’t think we were going to make anything happen there. In the middle there was a great opportunity, we just didn’t capitalize on it. Got pretty dicey with the restarts.

I’m conflicted because on the one hand it was a great recovery for all of us on Team Penske. We started this weekend in pretty bad shape, were really far off the pace. We chipped away at it, did a lot of work, felt like we got really close in qualifying, had a really good race car.

From that standpoint I’m elated, but just disappointed. Looked like we had an opportunity today and we weren’t really able to seal the deal. It was a great job for our team.

THE MODERATOR: Pato, your thoughts on another podium in 2023.

PATO O’WARD: It was a hard-fought podium for my 5 camp. We were a bit of a ping-pong ball in the start of the race in turn one and turn three, then got shuffled back even more. So, yeah, we had to pass everybody on track.

Obviously happy with the result. But yeah, I think we all need to be better if we want to catch the 10 car. That’s just the reality of it. I think same as Josef, we had a massive opportunity to capitalize and I think to win this race, because I feel like I definitely had the pace. We kind of threw that away in our last pit stop.

Yeah, we’re just going to keep on fighting. We win together, we lose together. That’s how it’s always going to be.

So, yeah, I’m excited for the nine races to come. It’s still a long championship, lots can happen. We just need to keep improving.

THE MODERATOR: You haven’t had a chance to look at some of the numbers. The passing stats are through the roof. Some cars going off. That adds to that. 444 on-track passes in this race. 386 were for position. 110 came in the top 10 today. There were 32 in the top five. All these are smashing the numbers since INDYCAR started recording these numbers in 2016 at Road America.

Speak to the competition of this series, the crazy action that you saw out on the racetrack today.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, it was an unbelievable race. I think as a driver, not always what you want. You want to be just out front, kind of green from start to finish, just an easy day. But if you’re a fan, this is a very difficult race. There was just a lot that happened.

Pato, like he spoke about, people were shuffling forward and backwards. Restarts were bringing different action. The tires were bringing something different for people. It was possible to pass, like very much so. It raced really well.

There was a lot of unknowns going into the new surface on how it would race. I think today, I don’t know how you could have asked for much better of a race. From that standpoint it was more stressful for us. Hopefully the fans really enjoyed the action of it.

THE MODERATOR: Pato?

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I mean, I agree with that with every race. Like every race, you never know what to expect in INDYCAR. You just don’t.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with questions.

Q. Pato, start of the race, green flag, turn one, next thing you know you were hit in the rear. Did you think it was a little early for that?

PATO O’WARD: No. I mean, it’s obviously not ideal. I was just hoping that my attenuator was fine. If they get a bit more under you, your gearbox is kind of done, so that would have been miserable.

But thankfully it wasn’t. I had the chance to fight my way through. I enjoyed. I had fun.

Q. For the two of you, how difficult was it not knowing the way the tires were going to necessarily work? Even talking to your engineers before the race, they weren’t quite sure. They just knew it was almost like everything was upside down tire-wise at this track compared to other tracks.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of unknowns, a lot of questions to answer that. We all had an idea. You don’t know until you really run full stints, have full fuel in the car, everybody is equal.

It was kind of somewhat of a guess. Hopefully we made the right guess. It seemed like everybody had the same idea going into the race. That’s why you saw everybody start on blacks for the most part.

It was a little upside down. The black was just a better tire all around. The red had some potential in the beginning, but it definitely more fade, more degradation.

I think that made it exciting. I mean, the way the tires stacked up, it was very raceable on both compounds. The primary was just a little better today.

Q. The season is not halfway over, but I think the points lead is now 71 for Alex. What is it going to take to have an up-for-grabs race in terms of points standings?

PATO O’WARD: Win races (smiling). If you win nine more races, yeah, you can do it (smiling).

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Probably win by 200 points if you won nine races straight. Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty wide open still.

Q. Josef, if I understood correctly, shortly after the race you said you enjoyed or you liked the old configuration better. When you came here, I think you were informed that there was a new pavement. What did you expect?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, I’m biased. I’m an old surface fan anywhere we go. I don’t like new pavement at any track. But it is a different challenge than what you get on an old surface.

I think as a team we’re not excelling on smooth surfaces, particularly something like this. It’s in our control to make it better. As a team, we’ve got to figure out a better formula for our cars with this type of track.

I think this weekend just cemented that for us. We already felt that way at previous tracks. Running through this weekend, the test last week, we definitely confirmed that we have a weakness on these type of surfaces.

We knew that going in. We knew it was going to be new. I love Road America. I still love it just as much as I loved it in the past.

Yeah, if I had to pick my choice, I always like an old track. But that’s a personal opinion.

Q. Next year, more races, more rubber, maybe we are back to the old situation.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely not. The old surface was old. I don’t know how old, but it must have been 15, 20 years.

Q. ’95.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: ’95? Even more. Geez, that’s 27, 30 years.

No, it will take quite a while to get back to what we were in the past. It will set in. I think you put three, four, five years on it, it will start to come back. But it’s just a new style of track.

I think it’s in our control to make better. We as a team are just not good enough on these type of tracks. We have to figure out where our weakness is there.

Q. Josef, you said you could pass today. After yesterday, we would have been surprised if people were talking about going two-wide through five. What happened? Why was passing doable today?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think a lot of it was the tire. You had degradation in the tire, particularly early in the race. As the track gripped up, that got tougher because you had less deg at the end of the race.

Early on with different compounds, the red was weaker, which gave opportunities. Even on the primaries, they would wear out. That gave people opportunities.

I think just in general, the cadence of the driving and the track with this tire grip, there was still great opportunity to pass people. There was a lot of drag on the car, so you could get runs on people. You could use overtake and it was effective. There’s just a lot of reasons why. Not one thing or another.

We’re definitely going to leave here going, yeah, this place races really well. You can start 15th and pass forward. Doesn’t mean you’re going to win, but you could pass forward today.

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I think the numbers today show it’s very raceable, a lot of action, yeah.

Q. Pato, how difficult was it to keep Dixon behind towards the end of the race, or was it?

PATO O’WARD: No. I knew if I just didn’t make mistakes, I was going to be fine. I was playing with my fuel numbers. I just kept getting a bigger — no. I kept getting a smaller number each time, so I was able to use even more and more fuel every single lap, like five, six to go.

Yeah, it was all about hitting my marks, not really doing anything too crazy.

Q. Do you spend any time worrying about the gap that Alex has built up or do you put that out of your mind and focus on your own performance?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s kind of out of our control. They’ve had a good run up to this point, right? They’ve not had a bad race. I think that’s to be expected.

We had an engine pop on us in the very first round. Everybody has a different story. If you look at their story, they’ve not had one bad race yet. When you have eight races in a row without a bad one, this is what happens points-wise.

What’s going to happen on the final nine, it’s impossible to say. There’s so much season still that he’s got a good cushion at this point, they’ve done a great job, but I don’t think that guarantees anything in INDYCAR.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Appreciate you guys.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thank you.

PATO O’WARD: Thank you.